Best banks in the developed markets

Best banks in the developed markets

New York-based Global Finance magazine recently announced its annual awards for the World's best banks in developed markets. The winners of this year's awards are those banks that attended carefully to their customers' needs in difficult markets and accomplished better results while laying the foundations for future success.

Objective criteria considered included: growth in assets, profitability, geographic reach, strategic relationships, new business development and innovation in products. Subjective criteria included the opinions of equity analysts, credit rating analysts, banking consultants and others involved in the industry.

Best banks in the developed markets

JPMorgan Chase is one of the oldest financial institutions in the US. It is a leading global financial services firm with assets of $2.3 trillion. Their employee strength is over 2,40,000 employees, and it operates in more than 60 countries.

Best banks in the developed markets

Operating since 1864, RBC has grown to become one of North America's leading diversified financial services companies providing banking, wealth management, insurance and capital markets services on a global basis.

Best banks in the developed markets

Founded in 1927, RZB is the central institution of the Austrian Raiffeisen Banking Group (RBG). The RZB Group is the third largest Austrian bank. As of end-2010, the balance-sheet total of the RZB Group amounted to 136.5 billion euros.

Best banks in the developed markets

KBC Bank is a Belgian universal multi-channel bank, focusing on private clients and small and medium-sized enterprises. It is the 18th largest bank in Europe (by market capitalisation) and a major financial player in Central and Eastern Europe, employing some 51,000 staff worldwide.

Best banks in the developed markets

Deutsche Bank AG is a global banking and financial services company with its headquarters in the Deutsche Bank Twin Towers in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It employs more than 100,000 people in over 70 countries, and has a large presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia-Pacific and the emerging markets.

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Image: A Deutsche Bank logo is pictured in front of the Deutsche Bank headquarters in FrankfurtPhotographs: Ralph Orlowski/Reuters

Best banks in the developed markets

Alpha Bank is the second largest bank in Greece after National Bank of Greece, with 450 branches throughout the country. Founded in 1879, it has been controlled by the Costopoulos family since the very beginning.

Best banks in the developed markets

Bank of Ireland is a commercial bank operation in Ireland, which is one of the traditional 'Big Four' Irish banks.

Historically the premier banking organisation in Ireland, the Bank occupies a unique position in Irish banking history. At the core of the modern-day group is the old Bank of Ireland, the ancient institution established by Royal Charter in 1783.

Best banks in the developed markets

Intesa Sanpaolo is a banking group resulting from the merger between Banca Intesa and Sanpaolo IMI based in Turin, Italy. It has clear leadership in the Italian market and a minor but growing international presence focused on Central-Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

Best banks in the developed markets

Rabobank Group is a full-range financial services provider that operates on cooperative principles. Its origins lie in the local loan cooperatives that were founded in the Netherlands nearly 110 years ago by enterprising people who had virtually no access to the capital market.

Best banks in the developed markets

Headquartered in London, HSBC is one of the largest banking and financial services organisations in the world. HSBC's international network comprises around 7,200 offices in over 80 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa.

Best banks in the developed markets

The Danske Bank Group, headquartered in Copenhagen, is the largest bank in Denmark and one of the leading financial enterprises in northern Europe. It offers a full range of banking services, with an emphasis on retail banking.

Best banks in the developed markets

Nordea Bank AB is a Stockholm-based financial services group operating in Northern Europe. The bank is the result of the successive mergers and acquisitions of the Swedish, Finnish, Danish and Norwegian banks of Nordbanken, Merita Bank, Unibank and Kreditkassen (Christiania Bank) that took place between 1997 and 2000.

Best banks in the developed markets

Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, SEB has 4 million private customers, 400,000 SME customers and 2,600 corporates and institutions as customers. The group has about 17,000 employees and has operations in 20 countries in the Nordic and Baltic regions, Europe and Asia.

Best banks in the developed markets

ANZ traces its origins to the Bank of Australasia, which opened its first office in Sydney in 1835. The bank established a Melbourne office in 1838, where ANZ's world headquarters is located today at 833 Collins Street, Melbourne.

Best banks in the developed markets

Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited is the second-largest commercial banking group in Hong Kong in terms of assets and customer deposits, with more than 300 branches in Hong Kong. It was established in October 2001 following a merger of 12 subsidiaries and associates of the Bank of China in Hong Kong.

Best banks in the developed markets

Bank Hapoalim is Israel's largest bank. The bank has a significant presence in global financial markets. In Israel, the group has over 260 full-service branches, eight regional business centres, and industry desks for major corporate customers.

The bank was established in 1921 by the Histadrut the Israeli trade union congress and the World Zionist Organisation.

Best banks in the developed markets

Mitsubishi is a Japanese financial services company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It holds assets of around US$2.5 trillion as of March 2011 and is one of the main companies of the Mitsubishi Group.

Best banks in the developed markets

DBS is a leading financial services group in Asia, with over 200 branches across 15 markets. Headquartered in Singapore, DBS has over 4 million customers. It has also won the Global Finance's "Safest Bank in Asia" award for two consecutive years, in 2009 and 2010.